I do like your day to day price drops, could be done very transparently and give companies like MS huge amounts of data to mine and figure out the best price point for certain titles.
What I don't understand is that if they have this huge market for "used" titles, there is obviously an issue with pricing, people will pay $20-30 for a console title, and will pay this over and over. The price point of $60 and up is just too high, the amount of free games out there these days adopting a free to play models are creaming it in. And with the advent of things like facebook games ala farmville people are realising that their PC's are plausible time wasters just as much as a playstation was.
I guess I'm sort of going off on a tangent there, what I really wanted to say was if they want to destroy the used game market all they have to do is price it out of the picture, they already can and should have. Their "slim" profit margins argument is weak and a joke at best, steam has proven this time and time again with sub $20 game titles, and so has newer players like Humble Bundle (no I don't work for them, just love their work.) Make games seem cheap as chips and everyone will buy them. Right now they are missing out on people like me who have had enough of their shit and simply won't come to the table any more.
The thing that amazes me most about all of this is that MS is a leader in tiered sales plans, they have done this from the get go in everything they do. Well, except the games console market heh.
but I don't see much discussion about what the pros and cons are for those involved, I may be a little bit under-informed but it seems having everything open would be a bonus for all people in the supply chain. The cons however, I don't really see any. Aren't people already paying for the hardware, they get the software regardless of whether the drivers are open or not.
Slashdot Mirror
I actually keep a detailed spreadsheet, so I know that I actually pay about $.30/hour overall (for games).
Please don't ever leave slashdot you big sexy nerd you.
I do like your day to day price drops, could be done very transparently and give companies like MS huge amounts of data to mine and figure out the best price point for certain titles.
What I don't understand is that if they have this huge market for "used" titles, there is obviously an issue with pricing, people will pay $20-30 for a console title, and will pay this over and over. The price point of $60 and up is just too high, the amount of free games out there these days adopting a free to play models are creaming it in. And with the advent of things like facebook games ala farmville people are realising that their PC's are plausible time wasters just as much as a playstation was.
I guess I'm sort of going off on a tangent there, what I really wanted to say was if they want to destroy the used game market all they have to do is price it out of the picture, they already can and should have. Their "slim" profit margins argument is weak and a joke at best, steam has proven this time and time again with sub $20 game titles, and so has newer players like Humble Bundle (no I don't work for them, just love their work.) Make games seem cheap as chips and everyone will buy them. Right now they are missing out on people like me who have had enough of their shit and simply won't come to the table any more.
The thing that amazes me most about all of this is that MS is a leader in tiered sales plans, they have done this from the get go in everything they do. Well, except the games console market heh.
For anyone that found it a bit tldr; the letter amounted to:
Sup,
Please give me my stuff back and delete any copies, I find this whole thing unconstitutional.
Look forward to hearing from you,
Lawyer guy.
but I don't see much discussion about what the pros and cons are for those involved, I may be a little bit under-informed but it seems having everything open would be a bonus for all people in the supply chain. The cons however, I don't really see any. Aren't people already paying for the hardware, they get the software regardless of whether the drivers are open or not.
Is there any cons? I honestly don't know.